During the holidays, temperance may be difficult.
The best most of us can hope for is that the nice things we eat to balance out the naughty. Chocolate truffles are not meant to be an everyday food, but by combining them with nutrient-dense ingredients, we can supercharge their associated antioxidant properties and learn some trivia along the way.
So-called superfoods are not an immediate fix to all that ails us, though they can, of course, be great additions to a balanced diet. Crimson glory vine is a small grape of the Vitis family, native to Japan and temperate East Asia. Known here as yamabudō (literally, “mountain grapes”) they can be up to eight times richer in polyphenols, an antioxidizing compound, than common table grapes. They are a particular favorite of craft winemakers and Japan’s black bears pre-hibernation.